Full of Faith In My Ditch

Are you tired yet ... of trying to set good patterns? Resolutions? It's only the 2nd week of January, but it doesn't take long to get tired in life. We get tired in our work, in our marriages, in our churches, in our communities, in our worship, and in our personal goals. This week I just got tired of making the bed!! If I make it this morning, it's just going to be get all messed up tonight. :)  We have sleeping bags ....

Jesus lived on the earth as a man among men, working in a wood worker's shop, eating fish at the beach, and getting dirt in His sandals. He knows how it feels to be tired. Maybe that's why He took time to let us know how important it is to Be Faithful.  Another way to say it ... Be Full of Faith. 


To be faithful, you have to be Full of Faith.  In Luke 7 a military leader with a sick servant sent for Jesus' help; the Savior said He hadn't found faith like the soldier's in all of Israel. Being full of faith brings blessing. Everyone else fell into the "not so great faith" category, and maybe that's why the disciples begged their Leader for greater faith in Luke 17:5-6.


Jesus told them, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."  I have mustard seeds, and they're tiny. My faith must be tiny-er! 


After the mustard seed lesson, Jesus went on and was met by ten leprous men who cried out to be healed. Only one returned to give thanks, and Jesus said, "“Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  Being full of faith brings blessings.

Living with hard things in life increases faith ... doing battle, being diseased, being blind.  I want to be "full of faith," but I don't want the hard things that produce that kind of faith. 

As Jesus approached Jehrico, word of His healing spread all the way to a roadside where a blind man begged to know what all the fuss was about. He'd been faithfully sitting there, waiting. I'm sure he was tired of his circumstances, but he faithfully came and waited. His wasn't empty faithfulness; that would just be stubbornness.  He was full of faith. 


Being full of faith brings blessings. When he heard Jesus was actually about to pass, he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Bystanders rebuked him, but he wouldn't be silent and cried louder. Jesus heard, asked for the man to be bought near, and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"Oh, yes! Being full of faith brings blessings!



Can you imagine being face to face with Jesus and having him ask you that? Do you believe God can heal your hang ups and hurts?  Are you full of faith? The blind man didn't waste his one request, saying, "Lord, I want to see."  Jesus told the once-beggar, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."

The man erupted into contagious praise, the song of a faithful man, a blessed one who was full of faith.

Being full of faith means we so believe in Who God is that we're able to keep being faithful in what He asks us to do. We keep on trusting in His power and being obedient, because we're full of faith in Who God is and in the certainty His promises will come true. Eternity may not hinge on making my bed, but being full of faith in my personal walk with God, in my marriage, in my church life, and in my world  makes me certain of His enablement and His blessing, so I can be faithful. 


He hasn't asked me to be faithful to do what He gave you to do, but He's asked me to be faithful in what He's given me to do. If that means coming to a "ditch" every day and waiting for Him to pass by, I want to make sure I don't get tired and stop coming; I want to be there and be full of faith to enjoy the blessing that comes when I commit to Be Faithful! Being full of faith brings blessings.




What is God asking you to be faithful in as this new year starts?

One idea for this weekend:  Write down 3 ways God is asking you to be faithful this year. Write the words of the beggar man underneath your list: "Lord, I want to see," and ask God to show you great things as you are faithful to be who He has called you to be.